Questar III BOCES District Superintendent Dr. James N. Baldwin provided both verbal and written testimony before the New York State Mandate Council hearing held at the University at Albany on February 28.
The Mandate Relief Council is charged with reviewing and advancing proposals to reduce the statutory and regulatory burden on local school districts and governments. As part of this goal, the council is hosting 10 public hearings across New York State.
Below is a copy of Baldwin’s testimony:
Good evening and thank you for the opportunity to discuss mandate reform.
I want to begin by recognizing the progress we have made under the leadership of Governor Cuomo. School leaders are anxious to work with him and the Legislature to address the major cost drivers – the mandates – that, according to the Statewide School Finance Consortium, threaten to bankrupt hundreds of districts over the next five years.
I have been around long enough to know that for every mandate there is a constituency – and at least historically – a legitimate reason for its existence.
Your challenge is to determine which of the mandates have outlasted their usefulness. And in the education context – which are no longer necessary – or are even a hindrance to supporting our efforts to put the interests of students first.
Public education is faced with a structural, financial and cultural legacy that – all things being equal – costs us roughly 5% in annual increases. Yet, given the limitations on State capacity to increase education aid and the revenue constraints of the tax levy cap, most school districts will not be able to cover increases in salary, benefits, post-retirement, health insurance and other areas.
The system is unsustainable. And when precious resources continue to be diverted away from rich learning experiences to pay for compliance with mandates the casualties will be our students. I have included in my written testimony a list of many of those mandates – some 15 pages worth.
Removing the constraints of mandates, while necessary, will not, alone, sustain New York’s public education system. We need thoughtful restructuring to increase flexibility for the school system to address these challenges. In the face of increasing costs and uncertain revenue we must increase productivity and effectiveness. But we can’t do it with mandates that institutionalize inefficiency and systems that met the needs of the past.
Last year, while addressing the Business Council, Lieutenant Governor Duffy asked for a list of business mandates that need reform. Superintendents and Boards of Education have been submitting such lists to the State for years with disappointing results. Here are a few of the major cost-driving issues that need to be addressed:
- Current law is fair in maintaining salaries and benefits for public employees during collective bargaining. However, it gives them unfair advantage over taxpayers by mandating that step salary increases continue beyond the term of the contract while the next agreement is being negotiated. We need Triborough reform that provides no salary increases during contract negotiations.
- Due process is necessary in public employee disciplinary cases. But the “process” afforded teachers and administrators is far beyond that for other public servants. Current law and years-long delays in resolving cases require schools to spend inordinately to fire incompetent workers. In many districts – a 1% tax increase will net less than $50,000 in revenue. It should not cost as much as $300,000 – or a 6% tax increase – for a district to rid itself of an incompetent teacher or administrator. We need 3020-a reform.
- Seat time requirements imposed by the Regents stymie innovation and cost taxpayers millions. These requirements are based on the premise that if a student puts in his or her time – by virtue of “being there” they will learn. There is no evidence to support this. Seat time has made our schools and students prisoners of time. It stifles innovation to protect the jobs of adults.
- Schools are required to provide outdated instructional programs while they cannot afford to initiate new 21st century courses and practices. Just one example is the middle level requirement for home and career education.
- Mandates related to education of special needs students in New York far exceed federal requirements and are often premised on hiring more adults to address students’ needs. The result is expensive, adult-centered learning environments that do not always serve children. I have provided you with a list of more than 200 special education mandates that exceed federal requirements.
- Regents restrictions on the use of cost-effective, high quality on-line learning deprive students of more efficient and relevant learning opportunities, forcing us to maintain costly labor-intensive systems. Our students are entering worlds of higher education and careers where learning and business are done through technology. We are not preparing them for these worlds.
State aid must be used to drive cost savings instead of institutionalizing inefficiency. The way we spend money must begin to re-shape and re-structure our delivery systems. If we were going to design an effective, efficient school system that prepares students for life and work in the 21st century – it would not be what we have now.
There is no reason why every district must have its own state-subsidized transportation system. The state should require regional approaches to transportation as a condition for transportation aid. There is no reason why every district needs its own business department, information management system or human resources staff when larger systems or BOCES could provide those services to multiple districts.
It is morally offensive to pay aid for installation of artificial turf fields, pools and other luxuries to districts that can afford to pay for them, when we do not adequately fund academic programs in poor districts. We need funding equity for poor communities.
BOCES Aid should be targeted to regionalize our public education system to improve achievement and enhance economy, efficiency and equity. It is past time to free BOCES to become more entrepreneurial, allowing the sale and licensure of the considerable intellectual property, programs and services of BOCES throughout the country to raise revenue. Other states already do so.
School district merger is a non-starter in New York. Instead of maintaining laws and incentives that worked a half-century ago to encourage common schools to merge into central schools, we must recognize that New Yorkers loath to sacrifice local control and community identity –sacrifices required by a merger. And, even where there is willingness, other factors over which school districts have no control – such as local real property assessments – make merger undesirable.
If we want to create greater educational opportunities for our students in financially sustainable systems, why must we continue to bang our heads against the “merger or nothing” wall? We should reform our laws and financial incentives to facilitate interdistrict collaboration – short of merger. Local districts could maintain their separate corporate identities while sharing district-wide leadership teams and developing regional middle and high school programming. BOCES should be authorized to provide these programs and grant diplomas. Local districts could still operate elementary programs – but in places where it makes fiscal or educational sense – it should be easy for them to join together to offer middle and high school programs either directly or tuition students to other districts or BOCES.
The district superintendents have developed a package of bills designed to unleash BOCES to help school districts achieve economies and efficiencies that are inhibited by current law. I have included descriptions of those initiatives in my written testimony.
Finally, we need to encourage students who can – the number may be as high as one-third – to graduate early from high school. And if they do, reward them with a scholarship worth one-year’s tuition at a community college. This would provide motivation for early graduation, recognize and celebrate high-level student achievement and save taxpayer money. The barriers between high schools and colleges must be eliminated so that as many high school students who can, graduate with an associate’s degree or considerable progress towards one.
The essence of my message to you is this – let’s reform mandates where we can and perhaps more importantly, let’s advance significant educational and financial reform in our public school system to transform and sustain public education, boost student achievement and revitalize New York’s economy. Thank you.
Click here to download Baldwin’s testimony and supporting documents…
